Wine Colored Geisha
by Kaze-chan
Summary: A strange girl with wine-colored hair shows up outside the gate of a well-known teahouse with a strange request. Is it going to be fulfilled? (Prologue)


  
DISCLAIMER: This is the most AU thing I've ever done, but I still don't own it.   
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yep, Kaze-chan started a new story. Dooooooooon't worry, I'm not turing into Little Miss Start-A-New-Story-Every-Week-But-Never-Finish-Any Ryu-chan ^_~ We love ya Ryu-chan, butcha know it's true!   
This is an incredibly atypical fic - I don't know if I've seen anything like it anywhere, and I've been in the fanfic game for over a year now (seriously! check the dates on my profile! ^_~). It's so atypical I don't even know if this is a reincarnation or an AU and will probably never figure it out, but I don't mind.   
One way it's atypical is that it's set in roughly 1972. Hey, don't throw that! ~ducks a pan~ I like it that way! It's also set in Kyoto - you'll find out why, I don't wanna give more away up here ^_~   
This doesn't look to be really big on action - more character interaction and the like, but I think it'll be fun. It'll be a challenge, to be sure, and I hope I can do it.   
And Kris, this is for you! Thank you soooooooooo much for listening to all my rambling before I actually sat down and WROTE!   
  


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The building stretched up to the dull afternoon light, seeming to reach for the slivers of sun that managed to make it through the heavy cloud cover, wanting to drink in the warmth and keep it for itself, holding onto the heat for the cool days yet to come. The sun-bleached timbers of wood stood proud under the dull gray blanket, painted and re-painted over several years until the white just couldn't quite be sparkling any longer. The elegant shoji were slid closed around the perimeter, but the heavy oak front door, much darker than the walls of the building, the darkness of the support beams, hung lazily open, still even though a light breeze was blowing. A striped cat reclined in the doorway, absentmindedly twitching his tail tip back and forth as it peered down the graveled walkway that twisted for a short way between the miniature Japanese maples to the gate in the six-foot-high stone wall surrounding the elegant, well-manicured property, his eyes uncaringly narrowed.   
Narrowed at the one intrusion on his well known home, the one thing that didn't belong there: the girl, or young woman, standing at the gate in the wall, looking up at the building with the slightest bit of uncertainty playing about her features. She repeatedly chased away the twinges of worry and set her chin in a determined position that inspired confidence and shouted independence, but sooner or later would lose this self-possession in a moment of abject staring. Her startling blue eyes, a bit lackluster at the moment due to the absence of true sunlight to give them their normal sparkle, repeatedly ran back and forth over every detail in the scene before her, noticing the way the water in the small pond near the corner of the yard seemed to still sparkle, or how the tiles on the roof all appeared freshly swept. Her clothes were not quite up to the quality that this particular area of Kyoto was used to seeing, but neither could they be called rags; a schoolgirl's uniform worn a bit too much, torn a time or two too often to be allowed in the school proper anymore. But for all the clothes were those of an innocent, light-hearted schoolgirl, it would have been impossible for anyone looking at her at that moment to truly _believe_ that she was one. The hard, flinty, determined look in her eyes alone belied that assumption at first glance. The most noticeable feature about her, her long, incredibly thick wine-colored hair, was held back in a braid that was easily four feet long. The end of it rested in her hands, being fiddled with constantly by fingers that betrayed just how nervous she in fact really was much better than her face.   
The cat suddenly leapt off the step and disappeared into the azalea bushes with barely a rustle of leaves as it received some undetectable signal. The girl briefly considered turning tail and fleeing from the gate in a moment of sheer panic, but her feet seemed to grow roots into the sidewalk under her feet, freezing her in place during her completely unfamiliar consternation. A tabi-clad foot appearing from side of the doorway seemed to strengthen her resolve; she set her shoulders, squared her jaw, and watched the door passively, waiting to be noticed. The foot belonged to another young woman, a few years older and somewhat shorter than the first, her hair done up in an elaborate style but clad in a relatively simple yukata, styled only in deep green and very light beige. She was searching the ground for something with a kind of exasperated fondness; after a minute, the tall girl heard her well-modulated voice float out on the wind.   
"Hiro! Hiro, where are you?"   
She held up a small bowl and shook it, making something rattle inside.   
The cat immediately appeared from the azalea bushes, nose pointing in the direction of the rattling and twitching interestedly. A second later he bounded up the walkway to the door, then stood on his legs and pawed at the air for a second, as if to request that the dish be put on the ground.   
The young woman did so, giving his bright orangey-yellow coat a loving rub as she did so. As she straightened, she finally caught sight of the girl at the gate. "Oh! Who are you?"   
Her voice was so rich, so cultured, that it nearly made the girl uncharacteristically sigh with longing. If only she could be that way… "Excuse me, ma'am," she replied politely, bowing at the waist. "But is this the okiya Shirotori?"   
"Why, yes, it is." The young woman stepped into a pair of zori and walked quickly down the path with small steps, as if she was used to moving in something much more confining. "Why do you ask?" she inquired, turning curious brown eyes on this peculiar living puzzle.   
And the girl looked back at her, the end of the braid dropping from her hands, her eyes focusing determinedly on the woman in front of her. "My name is Kaen and I want to be a geisha."   
  
**Word bank:**   
Shoji = sliding doors covered in paper   
Tabi = split-toed socks (sort of)   
Yukata = light cotton "robe" worn in several ways: by itself during the summer, as nightwear, or as a bathrobe   
Okiya = teahouse/place where geisha live   
Zori = sandals   
Geisha = Duh --;;;;;   
  


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AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Well? I really don't have ideas for notes at this point, but I hope you liked something so different! Ja!   
OH! To anyone who cares, I got a 34 on my ACT! That's equal to a 1510-1550 on the SATs! WHOOO! 


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